A new year...a new start

Gabriel and Emma (Emmanuel)

I cannot believe it is already the end of January! The past two months have flown by…the kids are back in school after 6 weeks of vacation. The school year starts in January here, and we have our first group of children who will be graduating next November and going off to boarding school. I know it is still a year away, but the way this past year has flown by, I want to cherish each moment with these children because before I know it, they will be off to secondary school and I will miss them dearly. Maybe not the hormones and going through puberty part, but certainly all of rest of it.

Our Social Workers Agael and Jonathan on a typical Sunday, just "hanging around" :)

Reading contest
We had a great time last weekend at Bougainvillea, a local lodge in Karatu. Over the vacation period, we had a reading contest and the top two prizes were as follows: 25 books read and the child could go swimming at the lodge, 30 books read, the child could have a grownup dinner in the volunteer house with all of the volunteers. We had two children who had dinner with us and that was so much fun. They chose the menu, which was fried chicken, French fries (which are known here as Chips) and cake. They dressed up for the occasion and even had their shirts tucked in! We had 7 children go swimming. I use the term loosely as NO ONE knew how to swim, but boy they loved the water. It meant we had to have several volunteers in the freezing pool (which was really fun, NOT) there was a tremendous amount of kicking and dog paddling and laughter. Lucy provided some serious entertainment as she would go underwater, frantically move her arms and legs and actually not move an inch. I still haven’t figured out how that is possible, but it sure was funny. After two hours she could swim about 5 feet, which was huge progress considering the fact she was stationary for the first hour!

I will try and write more in the future. One more month and I will have been here a year. Hard to believe… I have made some wonderful friends this past year. We have had a great group of volunteers pass through our doors and I am thankful everyday for all of them. Truly a great mixture of people and personalities…so for those of you I have met here at the village, thank you again for your help, but also for what you have brought into my life as well as the children’s!

Christmas 2009 at the Rift Valley Children's Village

Don and Tom and several of us at the village drove to neighboring villages to distribute gifts to all of the children (organized chaos!)

Cleaning of the Rec Hall by the kids!

New Pajamas for all - Taringire House with Bonnie and Don some of my favorite volunteers ever!

Wow, what a week! I cannot believe the planning and all of the preparation it takes to get ready for Christmas here at the village! First was decorating the trees. Each house has a tree with ornaments and stockings. The two new houses have never had Christmas before and were not quite sure why we were making such a fuss about a silly tree.

After Santa has arrived!

Next came the wrapping of presents. We have 82 staff and each one received a Bonnie Raitt t-shirt (generously donated from her last tour) and hat. We then gave the children of all of the staff presents. Each of our children receives two presents and a stocking that is filled with goodies.

Christmas Program in the rec hall

On Christmas Eve, each child receives a gift of pajamas, we put out a cookie for Santa and then they try and stay awake to see him. Christmas morning is total chaos with the opening of presents and the search for batteries! This year several of the older children really understood what Christmas is all about and made or bought gifts for some of the other children.

Preparing lunch

After breakfast, everyone goes to the rec hall for church. Then the frantic setup for lunch and the official program takes place. All of the kids get dressed in their new Christmas outfits, the mamas are cooking and the volunteers and running around looking for batteries and trying to put together all of the toys.

Fried Bananas

We all gather in the rec hall and each house performs a song. It was very cute and special and pretty hysterical regarding the musical choices, but great fun. We ended the program with lunch in the rec hall with everyone sitting on the floor or benches and a huge mess was made by all! Over all a great and very satisfying day. I will say it took me 3 days to recover from the pre-Christmas week activities, 69 kids is a lot more work than 3 kids, that is for sure! It was truly wonderful to be able to share and experience this day with these children. I love it here!

Home is where the heart is....

Home is where the heart is…

Recently I was told that I couldn’t “afford” my lifestyle. This was due to a tremendous amount of unexpected dental work/oral surgery/root canal work and a plane ticket home. These unforeseen costs came to a staggering amount of money, much larger than my yearly stipend as a volunteer.

On the plane ride home I began to question my life again and what I am doing with it as it will take me years to pay this debt off. In my past life, I would have spent this amount on a one week vacation! I was a successful executive and spent money without a thought or care, very selfishly which in hindsight was both careless and selfish.

One year ago, I chose to sell all of my earthly possessions, including my furniture, clothes, art, basically everything so I could think of someone other than myself and be of service to others. I certainly admit that I did not account for unexpected emergencies in my life. I just knew in my heart that I was tired of being so self absorbed and wanted to think of someone else for a change, to give to others in a selfless manner.

All of this lead me to my wonderful, but very primitive and happy life here at the Rift Valley Children’s Village. The reality is that I don’t need much here, I have a wonderful room, a roof over my head, food in my belly and I spend what little money I have on the little luxuries of life here i.e. sodas, telephone calls to the states, wine and a monthly stay at a local guest house for some R&R. My day starts @ 6:00am and on a good day ends at 8:00p.m. and this is 6 or 7 days a week. I have hot water on good days and solar power to work by. I am writing this blog by kerosene lamplight as the solar power is down by 7 or 8 at night.

Things that were so important to me before such as blow drying my hair, makeup, nice clothes and my weekly manicure and pedicure are non existent and do not matter to me one bit. I no longer have a house I own or any material possessions, and this is incredibly liberating and freeing and has made me realize how shallow I was for so many years.

What I do have is a heart that is bursting with love for the 69 children we have here at the village, a love for the wonderful Tanzanian staff and a great appreciation for all of the selfless volunteers who pass through our doors every month. I love my three children with all of my heart, but they are now grown and living their own lives in the states. Nothing will ever replace my love for them and I will always be there for them. However they are no longer babies and do not need me like the children here do…

As I travelled home to Tanzania, I was sad and questioning my decision to move to Africa when something wonderful happened. All of my questioning was dissipated upon my arrival at the village. I had been gone for 1 month and as I stepped out of the truck, I was mobbed by a group of children all wanting hugs and kisses, welcoming me home. As I made the walk home to my room and Kirin house, all of the children, staff and volunteers were literally running out of their houses to greet me. I have never felt so wanted, loved or missed in my life! It literally took my 30 minutes to walk to my room, which is a normal 5 minute walk.

So yes, I may not have anything in the way of “things” and will have debt for the next several years, but what I do have is the knowledge that I make a difference by loving and helping these wonderful orphans. I certainly know they have helped me, when you give like this, you actually receive so much more in return, which is a great bonus. I have no idea how I will make it in my later years and frankly I really don’t care. I give my heart to these children and everyone who works here, the volunteers who help and India who has graciously taken me in and allowed me to work/volunteer here.

This is what makes life truly great, this is who I am now and this is where I belong! All I can do is love, care and give these children what they need emotionally, physically and assist with the day to day operations of the village…basically be here for anyone who needs me. As long as I am needed and can help, I will remain here, because I cannot “afford” to NOT be here!

Home is where the heart is and what I now know in my heart is that I am finally home where I belong!

Emmanuel update

This is Emmanuel or "Emma" as everyone here at the village calls him. Only in Tanzania could you have a boy called Emma and everyone think it is normal. :)He arrived just after birth (his mother died in childbirth) I have been aquainted with him since he was 2 1/2 or 3 months old. I am so close to this child and love him so much! I took care of him when he had colic and malaria and really bonded with him, adoring him more and more each day.  

This has been a big week here for Emma. He sprouted 2 teeth in the same day and he took his first steps! We all laughed that he is the first kid in TZ to ever walk before the age of 1. The culture is to strap children on the back of the mama or bibi and then don't let the kids touch the ground for the first year or two. Emma was crawling at 6 months which is truly amazing for here and now is walking at 10 months of age.

A couple of volunteers were in the container today and found a blue button down oxford shirt and a very safi (cool) sweater. He looks so cute I thought I would post the picture right away so everyone could see it.

Today is another holiday here in Tanzania (what a shocker!) so the kids are all home from school, playing soccer, gardening and hanging out in our office where I get nothing done. Oh well! It is great fun to play with all of the kids and just hang out with them...I am off to go rescue the cat from some over zealous toddlers. Cheers!

The sun also rises...

My life has been wonderful lately, I am happy, healthy (relatively) love my work and am surrounded by babies and children. I coast along, busy with my daily tasks, holding babies and enjoying life… sometimes forgetting the harsh nature of the surroundings, where I am and what life is truly like here for these wonderful persevering people. Tragically today, I have been jolted back into reality with a sad but all too usual event.

Death for humans is a part of life. Death in the US, while obviously occurring daily to many people is not something we come in contact with very often unless you work in the medical field etc…I remember the first time someone died close to me, I believe I was 10 years old. I knew people died but didn’t experience it on an annual basis, much less a day to day basis.

Death in Tanzania is something that happens all of the time and that everyone is aware of all of the time. Mothers die in childbirth; many die of HIV/Aids, children die from lack of medical care and malnourishment, many people in our area die from asthma attacks and accidents and unfortunately, many die violently.

In the past week, one of our social workers brother died at the age of 32 from kidney failure due to undiagnosed high blood pressure. Two days ago the 19 year old brother of one of our teachers was killed in a car accident. This morning we found out that a sweet little boy we help out sometimes was beaten to death by his drunken brother at the local village. He was 10 years old. Many of our children went to the primary school with him and were in his class. I personally knew him as we had arranged for him to receive glasses a few weeks ago and he hung out here on the weekends and played soccer with the kids.

I have had a very hard time dealing with his death and the violent nature of his attack. I have cried several times, when additional details come out. The one thing I have noticed is that no one here cries. They are sad and in shock, but it is just a part of life here. They are a caring, loving and happy people, not unfeeling, just doing what they can to get by in life. They have to deal with so many of their babies, family members and neighbors dying that I feel it is the only way they can cope.

One of the many reasons I love this country and the people here is that when life deals them a blow, they persevere and press on. Somehow they know that as sure as the sun sets, it will rise again. Life sucks sometimes, there isn’t enough food to eat, water to drink or clothes to keep you warm, people die and people are born. We, in 1st world countries, have many quotes or sayings to get us through the tough times, little books to read and people to council us. Here they just pick up their head and plug on through the day, grateful to be alive even for just one more day. I am truly grateful to have the opportunity and ability to work side by side with and get to know them and to realize how lucky I have been in my life.

Haircutting day

Every three weeks, the children here at the village all get haircuts. It is an amazing process and quite a production. The purpose of having all of the children's hair shaved is to keep the ringworm population down. What is amazing is how familiar it becomes to see girls with no hair so when you see someone with hair it looks really strange!

Standard 7 Graduation Cooking preparations

The Standard 7 lunch adventure or how to cook for 200 people with no advance preparation!

First, build 8 fires with cement blocks in a triangle around each fire.
Second, find 8 ginourmous pots and put on the fires.
Third, recruit all of the volunteers to grate carrots, slice tomatoes and cucumbers, slice and dice cabbage and so on and so on until it is finished. Thank god the goat was dead before he arrived! (long story from another trip)

Fourth, assemble all of the food on a very narrow walkway outside of the rec hall so there is no possible space to serve the food to the guests.
Fifth have two volunteers (one named Tracie) pop open sodas as they walk by. The following is what I personally repeated at least 150 times.

Tracie “Shikamo”
Guest “Maharaba”
Tracie “Gani Soda?”
Guest “Nini?”
Tracie “Gani Soda”
Guest “Fanta, hapana…Coke, hapana, Fanta” Asante
Tracie Kariboo!

Translation:
Tracie “Shikamo” - I give you my respect
Guest “Maharaba” I accept your respect
Tracie “Gani Soda?” Which soda?
Guest “Nini?” What?
Tracie “Gani Soda” Which soda? ( I assume this repeat was because of my sucky Kiswahili)
Guest “Fanta, hapana…Coke, hapana, Fanta” Asante Fanta, no Coke, no fanta, thanks!
Tracie Kariboo! You are welcome


Needless to say, not the most efficient system in the world, however everyone is pleased we are so polite and friendly and even though my Kiswahili is horrible and has a Texan accent!

Seriously, the event went off and the food was great and was actually hot and best of all no one received a hernia from carrying the 50 kilos of beans in one pot that is boiling hot to the table.

And so sets another day at the Rift Valley Childrens village.

Standard 7 Graduation

The parents seating area

Well, I knew it would happen eventually…my event planning skills were put to use the other day for the Standard 7 graduation. It was as far as I can tell a typical Tanzanian event, which means nothing is typical or planned in advance! All of the children from Gyetighi Primary School

I spent the day prior to the graduation setting up our rec hall. The school had organized committees for everything, however no one had any plans. They changed the menu for 200 people the day before the event! Of course we had to cook everything on site, so just trying to find a space where we could put 8 huge fires and pots was a challenge in and of itself. We had a great diagram of the rec hall and how the flow would work etc… of course those all went out the window too, however somehow we pulled it off and it turned out great. The only hiccup if you could call it that was the morning of the graduation, they moved the ceremony up three hours, but didn’t feel the need to tell us! As I say all of the time….OH WELL! The show must go on...



Our Education Director Andi Trotter (right) and Holly who is a long term volunteer teacher

at the school

The kids who graduated have 4 months now until secondary school starts. All of the other children go to school everyday until the end of November when school is out for the year. They get 6 weeks off and then the new school year will start in January.

The Uhuru Torch has arrived!

Every year a torch called the Uhuru Torch or freedom torch is lit on Mt. Kilimanjaro and then carried across the country by runners to celebrate the country’s independence.

In 1961 the Uhuru Torch was placed at the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro and founder President Julius Nyerere said that the torch was a sign of hope and peace from the highest point in Africa. Nyerere wrote about the philosophy and significance of the Uhuru Torch: We would like to light a torch and place it on top of Mt. Kilimanjaro, so that it shines beyond our borders, and brings about hope where there is despair, love where there is enmity and respect where there is hatred.

The Uhuru Torch is used by the Tanzania government to honor those who have made significant contributions to their communities. It is a 129 day torch race which began on May 31 in
Morogoro and goes to selected sites. The Uhuru Torch arrived at the Children’s
Village on September 28, 2009 A host of officials were on hand to dedicate our latest building and newest house Rubondo, and publicly confirm their support and gratitude for our work.

It was a great honor and a wild time. The guards of the torch take their jobs very seriously and the rumor around the village was that if anyone blew the torch out you would go to jail for a very long time. I have no idea if that is actually true, however the fact that so many believe it, is pretty scary :)

Pole!

Lemomo, Mica, Gabriella and Ellibaracka forming a choo choo train

Playing with the kids

Mama Tracie and Emmanuelle

(not very flattering of me, but isnt he cute??)

Pole (pronounced POLE A and the A is long) is a word utilized frequently here in Tanzania. It means sorry, however people say it frequently as a greeting if you are working…such as when I walk by a mama who is cooking on her Jiko or washing clothes I will say “Pole!” they then respond with “Asante, Pole na wewe” meaning sorry for your work, and the response is thanks, sorry for your work. I say the word pole probably 30 to 40 times a day. It acknowledges the staff members hard work and makes them feel good (hopefully!) On the other hand, if a child falls down or is sick you also say “pole”, which of course is the more traditional meaning of sorry.

So for all of the wonderful followers of my blog all I can say is POLE!! I have been so busy and tired and everything else in between I have been horribly remiss in my correspondence and especially with my blog postings. I am leaving RVCV for the weekend to go take some much needed R&R, however I promise when I return to post several of my recent experiences.

Until then, I leave you with a few of my most recent and favorite pictures…

Lemomo and his pink outfits

One of the greatest things about where we live, is that clothes are clothes and no one cares what color they are! Lemomo (above) has several pink outfits, one of which is a pink Tinkerbell hoody like the one he has on now, but it has sparkles! I just love that the preconceived notions of what colors boys should or shouldnt wear are not present here at all.

Our little man....Dickson

This cute little boy is one of our newest arrivals at the RVCV. His name is Dickson and he is 2 1/2 years old. He has the body and weight of a 12 month old baby, however he walks,talks and is so adorable we just call him our little man. He is literally about a foot shorter than other children his age, but otherwise seems to be at the same level as his peers. We attribute his small stature to lack of nutrition as a baby, but I have to say it makes him so cute!

Thought for the day....

In Tanzania, the word Jamba means fart. So that makes Jamba Juice what?? Fart juice? :)

Sorry, I have been pondering this for a while...I either have too much time on my hands or too little adult conversation....I know it cant be the time thing as I have no time on my hands!

New cooking facilties at Shule or School

We have built a new cookhouse so all of the local children are able to have a hot lunch every day. For most of these children this meal is their ONLY meal of the day so it is vitally important that it is hot, nutritious and tastes good! Our two full time cooks Mama Titus and Mama Kajuju

These are two water purification tanks recently installed to ensure that the kids are drinking filtered water everyday...at least at school.

Shule or School

Our children, as well as all of the children in the area, go to Gyetighi Primary School. We have taken over the management contract of the school and are slowly renovating all of the classrooms as well as the teacher housing and anything else we can get our hands on :)

Below is an example of an older classroom and a picture of one of the newly renovated classrooms.

The new one above is actually the Chucke Chea classroom or Kindergarden so they have little tables and chairs. We are building individual desks for the older students so they dont have to sit at the bench/table style desks. The rooms are great though, high ceilings, white walls and skylights.

Godwin

This is our head Askari, Godwin.

He is a wonderfully regal Masai warrior who guards us at the Rift Valley Children's Village. We have a total of 6 Askaris, all of whom are Masaii. They patrol the property 24 hours a day, predominantly to protect us from the Elephants and Cape Buffalo, but also to keep unwanted intruders at bay. He is walking the perimeter of the village with one of India’s dogs Winchester.

Sunrise, Sunset...

A small glimpse of the daily views and beauty of my surroundings...

Sunrise at Rift Valley Children's Village

A view from our hill to the valley below

The Sun setting over the edge of the rift

The medical clinics are back in full swing!

Local villagers waiting to see the Dr.
Dr. Frank checking out a patient

Our version of Triage :)

And the wait begins...

We are so excited that Dr. Frank and the mobile medical clinics have started up again! Dr. Frank and his team of Dr.’s and nurses show up every two weeks and we host a free clinic for the surrounding villagers. Some of these people walk for hours to get to the Rift Valley Children’s Village in order to receive free medical treatment and dawa (medicine).

Dr. Frank Artress or Dr. Frank as we all call him, has a medical clinic in Karatu and a foundation called FAME. TCF and RVCV actively support FAME and Dr. Frank’s great work in this region. With 69 kids now we routinely send a car to the clinic several times every week!

Mama Upendo and our smallest baby, Gracie

Ester and little man Dixon who is a new arrival at RVCV. Dixon is 2 1/2 years old, however was so malnourished that he is very, very small for his age. He is wearing 12 month baby size clothing! It is amazing to see him walking around and he is starting to really talk, but is so tiny you can believe it.

Baby Emanuelle, my first love here at the Village. He is starting to crawl and wave bye bye. What a doll!

Filling our last house!

All of the new kids plus Colletta.

In June we initiated the process of filling our last Children’s House—Rubondo House. Last week we welcomed 8 little ones to their new home and family. Like our other children when they first arrived at the Children’s Village, these kids looked terrified and shell shocked. Imagine landing in a world so unlike anyplace you have ever seen?? Where there are real houses, real beds, hot water coming from a tap and white people lurking in every direction! But within 24 hours their fears have been replaced by joy. The joy of having a full tummy, the joy of feeling clean, the joy of knowing that all those crazy white people don’t intend to eat you, but instead want to hug you. It’s magic to watch these children be transformed.

Last week we went to Mongola to pick up a little 6-year-old girl named Neema to bring her back to live with us. The area is hard to describe…it is a desolate and depressing area. Deforestation has lead to the loss of all topsoil so the dirt is like red baby powder. Scrubby trees are peppered around, sagging mud houses and skinny cows and goats search for water. This is our cold season where it can be in the 50's at the Children’s Village, however, it was in the low 90's in Mongola! I can't imagine what it is like there during the hot season. Many of our new kids come from this area. I only wish we could get more children out of such a hopeless environment! The area we live in is the complete opposite of Mongola. We are in the mountains and surrounded by rain forest and coffee plantations. As I sit at my desk I can see the peak of Mt Oldeani and the Ngorongoro Crater rim. In the early mornings it is so beautiful, it brings tears to my eyes. The people who live near us are just as poor and struggle daily to survive, but somehow with so much beauty in our natural environment, we don’t lose hope.

This week we will be picking up a one month old baby and 2 more little girls to bring home with us. We will have then filled the Children’s Village with all our children. I am already feeling sad, like a woman who has decided not to have more babies (again!). But, then with so many budding teenagers I realize that 69 children is probably enough!

A few pictures of the kids

A sunny day (one of the few recently) playing with the kids outside

Here are a few recent pictures of some of the kids at RVCV. The school year here starts in January and the first semester just ended so we are on "break" for the next 6 weeks.

Gabriella and Mica are twins and we brought them to RVCV in January. When they arrived they didnt speak Swahili or English and now are great at both! This picture is classic as Gabriella's tummy is always hanging out!

These are three of my favorite volunteers, Kat holding Lucia, Caroline with Gabriella and Taylor with Mica. They all just left and it hasn't been the same without them! They were all here when I arrived and we shared three great months together!